A Study on Customized Nutrition Intervention Program Design and Application for the Low-Income Elderly

Abstract

This study aimed to plan nutrition support programs for the elderly living alone whose nutrition status were seriously concerned, conducted seven stages nutrition intervention program on a trial basis, and evaluated the effectiveness of the program of the Elderly Nutrition Support Project. Subjects were selected for personalized nutrition management based on nutritional risk score and nutrition intervention were tailored to the problems occurred. The elderly nutrition support program targets were 44 senior citizens who lived alone with low income. The 33 (as Type 1) of the subjects with whom milk, tofu, seaweed, eggs, black beans have been supported, and also provide nutrition education, and the rest 11 persons (as Type 2) to whom food was not supported but provide nutrition education programs. As a result, all subjects showed that compared with pre and post program implementation, their daily exercise time and milk and protein consumption level were increased and some improvement was observed regular meals consumption and lowsalt diets. Their nutrient intake level such as calories, protein, calcium, iron improved after implementation. In addition, NSL DETERMINE scores significantly improved from 13.21 to 7.24 in Type 1 and 11.27 to 9.91 in Type 2. As positive dietary behavioral changes were observed as in that they purchased more protein and calcium rich foods. (Korean J Community Nutr 16(6) : 716~729, 2011)